ROCKFORD — Andy Olesen, a helicopter pilot, finally got poppies to grow in his Rockford backyard, like those his mother sprouted on a ranch in South Dakota, his wife, Pat, said.

Karen Hollis, a flight nurse, wore an ugly Christmas sweater while selling tickets at a comedy show fundraiser in November for Spectrum Progressive School in Rockford, where she was president of the board, said Christine Klekamp, executive director of the school.

Jim Dillow, a flight nurse from Shannon, quizzed his wife, Rachel, about the types of flowers he grew in their garden, and insisted their four children routinely practice on their instruments. This, according to Rachel.

Family and friends shared stories Tuesday about the personal and professional lives of Olesen, Hollis and Dillow, who died Monday in the crash of a medical transport helicopter in Compton. They were on their way to Mendota Community Hospital but had decided to return to Rockford because of inclement weather.

Rhonda Bergstrom, nurse manager in the emergency department at SwedishAmerican Hospital, had worked with Hollis and Dillow when she was a nurse in the emergency room at Rockford Memorial Hospital.

Dillow was a “character,” she said. He would walk past the charge nurse and joke about some medical situation that could be worse than the one they were dealing with at the time.

“It was almost like ‘poking the bear,’” she said. “He did it in jest, trying to make us realize that it could always be worse.”

Hollis was a “phenomenal teacher,” Bergstrom said. “She taught me how to titrate a Nipride drip” — in other words, how to change the dose of a medication based on the patient’s condition, she said. “I asked for her help.”

Bergstrom said Hollis and Dillow were highly regarded by health care professionals across the board.

“Yes, in the ER, we are jacks-of-all-trades,” she said, “But they work in a cramped space, with limited supplies and don’t have a team to back them up.”

Their deaths, and that of Olesen, are a “loss for the entire community,” she said. Olesen had been a pilot for Regional Emergency Acute Care Transport, or REACT, for five years. Hollis and Dillow had more than 10 years’ experience each as flight nurses.

Olesen spent 23 years in the Army, flying helicopters in Vietnam, his wife said. His interest in flying was sparked by an uncle who was a TWA pilot. Olesen was an avid Green Bay Packers fan, whose propensity to talk with his hands and arms became amplified during football games.

He planned to retire soon. The couple has two children and three grandchildren who live in Texas. They have lived in Rockford for 18 years.

At Carlyle Brewing Co. in Rockford, Olesen was a member of the Mug Club, which has 200 members who keep their mugs at the brewery. His mug was No. 29.

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“With a hearty voice, and an even heartier laugh, he made us all smile whenever he walked through the door,” Rocio Perez, manager of Carlyle, said on the brewery’s Facebook page.

He could “strike up a conversation with anyone and make them feel like they were a long-lost friend.”

Hollis, too, was very likeable, with a vibrant personality that spilled over into the simplest tasks, said Klekamp, the Spectrum executive director.

She got everyone excited about pizza and Bingo nights at the independent school.

“She rallied the troops, even though it was just Bingo and pizza,” Klekamp said.

Hollis and her husband, Scott, are parents of two children — Samantha, 12, who attends Spectrum, and Sydney, 14, who attended Spectrum for nine years but now attends Boylan Catholic High School.

Hollis was spearheading an ongoing campaign to raise $850,000 to upgrade the school’s exterior and to expand the school by buying property to the north, Klekamp said.

Dillow spent virtually every one of his off-work hours with his family, Rachel said. They have four children, ages 12, 11, 9 and 7, and they are home-schooled.

“We would go fishing, hunting,” she said.

And they often talked about taking their children overseas on mission trips, on which they could minister partly through the children’s music — they play the piano, cello, violin and guitar.

Her husband loved the flowers in his garden, too.

“He would say, ‘Rachel, what flower is this, what flower is that?’” she said. “I was the polar opposite. I didn’t want to get my hands dirty. So he told me to bring a book so I could sit with him in the garden.”